Walmart sells its Bonobos menswear brand to WHP Global, EXPR for $75M

Walmart Inc. has offloaded its Bonobos upscale menswear brand, and this was confirmed last week. The retail company sold the brand to Express Inc. (EXPR) and WHP Global for $75 million.

The selling price was far lower than what Walmart paid when it acquired the brand in June 2017 for $310 million. Bonobos specializes in high-end suits, trousers, shirts, denim, shorts, outerwear, swimwear, and accessories for men. The company sells its items online.

Express, Inc. and WHP Global announced that they have signed a definitive agreement contract to buy Bonobos, Inc. from Walmart. Since sealing their strategic partnership earlier this year, this acquisition deal is the first one that they have jointly agreed upon, Reuters reported.

WHP Global will pay $50 million to acquire Bonobos, while Express will pay $25 million for the acquisition of operating assets and assume any related liabilities of the brand. Nearly six years ago, Walmart purchased Bonobos to become one of the prominent upmarket online brands and attract the younger generation of shoppers.

However, it struggled to achieve its goal since it failed to make the brand profitable. In fact, Walmart was forced to lay off Bonobos workers in 2019.

In any case, the acquisition deal between Walmart and WHP Global and Express is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year. This will give EXPR the right to use the intellectual property (IP) acquired by WHP Global to operate the Bonobos business.

"Our strategic roadmap to transform EXPR to create shareholder value includes achieving profitable growth in our core Express business - which is our first priority – optimizing our omnichannel platform, and accelerating our growth and profitability through our partnership with WHP Global," EXPR's chief executive officer, Tim Baxter, said in a press release. "Bonobos is delivering double-digit sales growth and we plan to continue that momentum while also realizing operating synergies and other economies of scale."

Yehuda Shmidman, chairman and CEO of WHP Global, also said, "Bonobos is an ideal first acquisition for our new partnership with EXPR and will be a terrific addition to our fashion vertical."